In Britain it varied from county to county.

Some preferred to throw their sickles at it until there was nothing left, others thought it held an evil spirit and trampled it into the ground. Many treated it with honour and celebration believing the corn spirit had retreated into it as refuge when the rest of the crop was cut.

In this the corn spirit was thought to sleep through the winter.
In the spring it was taken to the fields when seed was being sown, so that the spirit could transfer to the sown seed and awaken it.
The making of corn dollies are the outcome of harvest, a way of saying thank you for the crops.

This process begins much earlier in the year on Plough Monday, the Monday following 12th night after Christmas.

It was usual for the countrymen to draw about a plough fantastically dressed begging money from door to door.

The 'characters' consisted of one dressed as a female, and called Besom Bet.

The plough-driver, with a blown bladder at the end of a stick, whipped his team over the head and shoulders and moved from house to house.
In the Driffield area they were known as Ploo Jags.

Another custom in this part of East Yorkshire was called burning the witch in the harvest field.

On the evening of the day in which the last corn was cut belonging to a farmer, the reapers had a merry-making, which consisted of an extra allowance of drink, and burning peas in the straw.

The peas when cut from the ground were left to dry in small heaps named pea reaps.

Eight or ten of these reaps were collected into one and set fire to in the field, whilst the labourers ran and danced about, ate the brustled peas, blacked each other's faces with the burned straw and played other tricks.

The evening's entertainment consisted also of cream-pot, which was a supper of cream and cakes, provided and eaten in the house prior to the commencement of the sport in the field.

The cream-pot cakes were made rather thick and sweet with currants and carroway seeds.

They were crossed on the top by small squares, owing to the dough being slightly cut transversly immediately before baking.

The Mell Supper was a time of relaxation and rejoicing after the harvest was gathered in. The Mell Supper is thought to be the same as mel in Danish, which is a meal.

The last sheaf gathered in was called the mel sheaf and the expression: 'We've gotten oor mell,' is the same thing as saying the harvest is finished.

At one time it was very common when the shearing of the corn was finished, for three large sheaves to be bound together.

Races were then run by the women amid great excitement. This was also called the mell sheaf and would contain about a bushel of corn, and in the days when wheat was at such a high price as it once was the prize was worth having.

John Nicholson in his The Folklore Of East Yorkshire (1890), relates several old customs in connection with the last load in the harvest.
The hockey, often with a young girl decked with ribbons and ears of wheat, on the load, was followed by the men and boys shouting at intervals:

We hev her; we hev her;
A coo in a tether;
At oor toon end;
A yow an' a lamb;
A pot and a pan;
May we get seeaf in
Wiv oor harvest yam;
Wiv a sup o' good yal,
An sum haupence ti spend!

There were many variations of this rhyme, a common one being:

Here we cum at oor toon end,
A pint o' yal an a croon ti spend;
Here we cum, as tight as nip.
An nivver fell ower, bud yance in a grip.
(The farm lads thought it very important that a load of corn should never
wemmle ower

On arrival of the last load in the stackyard the younger people scrambled for nuts and apples.
The foreman, who had walked at the horses' head of the last load would often recite:

Ah've rovven mi shet, an torn mi skin
Ti get mi maisther hahvest in,
Hahvest in an hahvest oot,
We've bet all fahmers roond aboot

When it comes to making corn dollies wheat is probably the best and easiest straw for the beginner to use and it is best to avoid damaged, solid stemmed and poor looking straw.

Oats has hollow stemmed straw but is soft.

The length of straw is now shorter and this means making more joins in the work.

The best plaiting is done with the top length of the stem, that is the piece from the ear down to where the last leaf leaves the stem. Cut off this piece and strip off any dead leaves and sort the straws into thick, medium and fine.